CONCERNING TRAPPING, SNARING, ETC. 39 



the more, and I think he did it partly to make 

 me "show off" and partly to "sell'' his 

 friends, for he himself pretended to believe , 

 that there was a rabbit, and would rush ahead 

 as if to shoot it, whilst he knew all the time that 

 it was only my humbug. 



I will now say a few words about rabbit 

 snaring and trapping. My father was a good 

 trapper of rabbits and other vermin, but, as a 

 snarer, he was no great shakes, so I had to do 

 all the snaring. He was very hard on me ; he 

 gave old Dick a shilling a dozen for all the 

 rabbits he caught, but I got nothing for mine, 

 not even a penny a hundred. The more I did, 

 the more he grumbled ; so we did not get on 

 very well together. If I said " yes," I was 

 wrong for saying so; then I would say : "Very 

 well, father, I will say, * no.' " And then he 

 would abuse me for being a " turn-coat,'' as he 

 called it. " All work and no play makes Jack 

 a dull boy,' 7 and it was not otherwise with this 

 " Jack." I would have gone through fire and 

 water for him, if he had only given me a word 

 of encouragement now and then, but this he 



